Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Southern Maine Community College/Biology 124 BK (Summer 2016)
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- Course name
- Biology 124 BK
- Institution
- Southern Maine Community College
- Instructor
- Nancy Clum
- Wikipedia Expert
- Ian (Wiki Ed)
- Subject
- Introductory Biology
- Course dates
- 2016-05-31 – 2016-08-18
- Approximate number of student editors
- 7
This is the first semester of a two-semester Biology sequence intended for biology/science majors or students looking to transfer laboratory science credits. Biology I lecture concentrates on living organisms at the cellular level. Specific topics include biochemistry, metabolism, respiration, photosynthesis, the cell cycle, meiosis, DNA, protein synthesis, gene regulation, and Mendelian genetics. The laboratory stresses hypothesis-based investigation. Students will work in groups to propose hypotheses, design experiments, and analyze data.
Timeline
Week 1
- Course meetings
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- Tuesday, 31 May 2016 | Thursday, 2 June 2016
- In class - Wikipedia essentials
- Overview of the course
- Introduction to how Wikipedia will be used in the course
- Understanding Wikipedia as a community, we'll discuss its expectations and etiquette.
Handout: Editing Wikipedia
- In class - Editing basics
- Basics of editing
- Anatomy of Wikipedia articles, what makes a good article, how to distinguish between good and bad articles
- Collaborating and engaging with the Wiki editing community
- Tips on finding the best articles to work on for class assignments
- Explore topics related to your topic area to get a feel for how Wikipedia is organized. As you explore, make a mental note of articles that seem like good candidates for improvement.
Handouts: Using Talk Pages, Choosing an Article, Evaluating Wikipedia,
- Assignment - Practicing the basics
- Create an account and join this course page.
- Create a User page.
- To practice communicating on Wikipedia, introduce yourself to another student on their user talk page.
- Milestones
All students have Wikipedia user accounts and are listed on the course page.
Week 2
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 7 June 2016 | Thursday, 9 June 2016
- Assignment - Species Stub Nomination
Each student will nominate one species stub for expansion.
- In class - Exploring the topic area
- Be prepared to discuss some of your observations about Wikipedia articles in your topic area that are missing or could use improvement.
Handouts: Choosing an article
- In class - Stub Selection and Project Assignments
Species stubs will be voted on. Each student will be assigned to a different aspect of the selected species account.
Week 3
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 14 June 2016 | Thursday, 16 June 2016
- Assignment - Basic Training
Complete the training modules listed below.
- Assignment - Using sources
- Be able to explain close paraphrasing, plagiarism, and copyright violations on Wikipedia.
Handouts: Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/sources|Sources and Citations
]]
- Assignment - Add to an article
- Add 1–2 sentences of new information, backed up with a citation to an appropriate source, to a Wikipedia article related to the class.
- Assignment - Upload an image
- Create or find an appropriate photo, illustration, or audio/video, and upload it to Wikimedia Commons.
- All media uploaded to Wikipedia must fall under a "free license," which means they can be used or shared by anyone. Examples of media you can use are photos that you take yourself, images and text in the public domain, and works created by someone else who has given permission for their work to be used by others. For more information about which types of media can be uploaded to Wikipedia, see Commons:Help desk.
- For instructions on how to upload files to Commons, refer to Illustrating Wikipedia. This brochure will also provide you with detailed information about which files are acceptable to upload to Wikipedia and the value of contributing media to Wikipedia articles.
- Assignment - Bibliography
- Compile a bibliography of at least ten relevant, reliable sources.
- Post the list in your sandbox.
- When your list has been approved, post it to the species talk page.
- Make sure to check in on the talk page (or watchlist) to see if anyone has advice on your bibliography.
- Milestones
- All students have completed basic training modules.
- All students have practiced adding content on Wikipedia.
- All students have uploaded images to Wikimedia Commons.
- All students have posted a list of 10 references.
Week 4
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 21 June 2016 | Thursday, 23 June 2016
- In class - Discuss the article topics
- Discuss the topics students will be working on, and determine strategies for researching and writing about them.
Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/sandboxes|Sandboxes and Mainspace]]
- Assignment - Read Source Material
- Begin reading source material and taking notes.
- Revise reference list as needed.
Week 5
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 28 June 2016 | Thursday, 30 June 2016
- Assignment - Drafting Outline
- Create a detailed outline of your topic reflecting your proposed changes in your sandbox.
- Once your outline is approved, post it for community feedback, along with a brief description of your plans, on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check back on the talk page often and engage with any responses.
- Begin working with classmates and other editors to fix any major issues.
- Continue research in preparation for expanding your article.
- In class - Wikipedia culture and etiquette
- Talk about Wikipedia culture and etiquette, and (optionally) revisit the concept of sandboxes and how to use them.
- Q&A session with instructor about interacting on Wikipedia and getting started with writing.
- Milestones
All students have approved outlines of their topics.
Week 6
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 5 July 2016 | Thursday, 7 July 2016
- Assignment - Draft article from outline
Using your outline, begin a rough draft of your topic in your sandbox.
Week 7
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 12 July 2016 | Thursday, 14 July 2016
- In class - Moving articles to mainspace
- We'll discuss moving your article out of your sandboxes and into Wikipedia's main space.
- A general reminder: Don't panic if your contribution disappears, and don't try to force it back in.
- Check to see if there is an explanation of the edit on the article's talk page. If not, (politely) ask why it was removed.
- Contact your instructor or Wikipedia Content Expert and let them know.
Handout: Moving out of your Sandbox
- Assignment - Moving articles to mainspace
- Move your sandbox articles into main space.
- If you are expanding an existing article, copy your edit into the article. If you are making many small edits, save after each edit before you make the next one. Do NOT paste over the entire existing article, or large sections of the existing article.
- If you are creating a new article, do NOT copy and paste your text, or there will be no record of your work history. Follow the instructions in the "Moving out of your sandbox" handout.
- Begin expanding your article into a comprehensive treatment of the topic.
- In class - Building articles
- Demo uploading images and adding images to articles.
- Share experiences and discuss problems.
Resources: Illustrating Wikipedia and Evaluating Wikipedia
- Assignment - Choose articles to peer review
- Select two classmates’ articles that you will peer review and copyedit. On the table at the bottom of this course page, add your username next to the articles you will peer review. (You don’t need to start reviewing yet.)
- Milestones
All students are editing their drafts on Wikipedia.
Week 8
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 19 July 2016 | Thursday, 21 July 2016
- Assignment - Complete first draft
- Expand your article into a complete first draft.
- In class - Contribution to Lead Section
Each student will propose 2-3 summary sentences from their subtopic to be included in the lead section of the article.
- In class - Contribution to Images
Each student will propose at least two photos, illustrations, videos, or drawings to be included in the article.
- In class - Contribution to External Links
Each student will propose at least one relevant external link to be included in the article.
Week 9
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 26 July 2016 | Thursday, 28 July 2016
- In class - Group suggestions
- As a group, offer suggestions for improving one or two other students' articles, based on your ideas of what makes a solid encyclopedia article.
Supplementary training: [[../../../training/students/peer-review|Peer Review]]
- Assignment - Peer review and copyedit
- Peer review two of your classmates’ articles. Leave suggestions on the article talk pages.
- Copy-edit the two reviewed articles.
- Milestones
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.
- In class - Media literacy discussion
- Open discussion of the concepts of neutrality, media literacy, and the impact and limits of Wikipedia.
Week 10
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 2 August 2016 | Thursday, 4 August 2016
- Assignment - Address peer review suggestions
- Make edits to your article based on peers’ feedback. If you disagree with a suggestion, use talk pages to politely discuss and come to a consensus on your edit.
- In class - Discuss further article improvements
- Continue discussing how the articles can be further improved. Come up with improvement goals for each article for next week.
- Assignment - Continue improving articles
- Return to your classmates' articles you previously reviewed, and provide more suggestions for further improvement. If there is a disagreement, suggest a compromise.
- Do additional research and writing to make further improvements to your article, based on your classmates' suggestions and any additional areas for improvement you can identify.
- In class - Selection of Images and External Links
Class will select images and external links to be included in the article.
- In class - Draft Lead Section
Class will edit nominated summary statements into a Lead Section.
Week 11
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 9 August 2016 | Thursday, 11 August 2016
- Assignment - Final article
- Add final touches to your Wikipedia article.
Handout: Polishing your article
- In class - Taxobox
Class will create taxobox based on collected information.
- Assignment - Reflective essay
- Write a reflective essay (2–5 pages) on your Wikipedia contributions.
Week 12
- Course meetings
-
- Tuesday, 16 August 2016 | Thursday, 18 August 2016
- Milestones
Students have finished all their work on Wikipedia that will be considered for grading.